Teeth Bleaching Procedures

Teeth bleaching or teeth whitening is one of the most common cosmetic procedures in dentistry. This procedure provides a better-looking smile and restores the natural shade of your teeth, or even provides a shade that is whiter than your natural one. White teeth are often associated with beauty, so there probably isn’t a single person that wouldn’t like to have a pearly white smile. By removing different stains and discolorations caused by extrinsic or intrinsic factors that can affect your natural teeth color, the whitening procedure will be able to remove the stains and help in improving the teeth’s color. The term teeth bleaching is associated with using bleaching products. Most of the bleaching products are based on hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide.

What can cause a change in the natural color of your teeth?

The enamel is a transparent tooth substance that covers the dentin. The dentin, on the other hand, is a colored substance that has a great importance in determining the natural color of the teeth. The color mainly depends on the color of the dentine and the thickness of the enamel. If the enamel is thinner it allows the dentin color to show through more, and it provides a greater light reflection. But if the enamel is thicker there is less reflection and less exposure of the dentin color. The enamel contains pores in its structure and that is the main reason why different discolorations and stains can happen to the natural teeth color.
There are a lot of internal and external factors that can cause discoloration of the teeth.

The external factors include a lot of things that our teeth come in touch with every day. The most common ones are dark-colored drinks such as tea, red wine, soda, sports drinks, coffee, food, smoking. Another factor that can cause teeth staining is improper oral hygiene. Dental plaque and calculus are very common among people, and the color of the calculus can vary from yellow, grey, brow or even black. The chlorhexidine that is a part of a lot of antiseptic mouthwashes can also be an external factor.

The internal factors are a result of a change in the tooth structure. This group of factors includes dental decay, amalgam fillings, dental trauma, antibiotics (tetracycline and minocycline), disorders, fluorosis, dentinogenesis imperfecta, amelogenesis imperfecta, enamel hypoplasia and more.
Age is also a factor that contributes to teeth coloring, as we grow older the enamel becomes thinner and more translucent which allows greater dentine exposure.

Where can you get your teeth whitened?

There are two ways that you can get a brighter smile. The first and safer one is visiting a dentist and getting an in-office treatment. And the second one is using home whitening systems that are usually inexpensive and are becoming more popular every day.

In-office bleaching
Just like it was mentioned before, this is the safest way to get your teeth whitened. Most of the dentists offer this service in their dental offices. Before getting your teeth whitened the dentist will get information on your medical and dental history. He will do a dental exam and will probably perform a prophylactic cleaning to remove all plaque that is present on the surface of the teeth. If there are any tooth decays, cracks or gum conditions, they have to be accessed first before proceeding with the whitening procedure.
There are special shade guides that are used to measure the patient’s teeth color before the whitening and to further compare the effects and the results of the procedure. The bleaching can last for a different time and it depends on the results that the patient wants to get and on his lifestyle.The bleaching agents that are used are based either on hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is almost three times stronger than carbamide peroxide so that is why it is used in solutions that contain 3%-15% hydrogen peroxide, or if the bleaching agents are based on carbamide peroxide they can contain 10%-45% carbamide peroxide. These substances have the ability to penetrate in the structure of the enamel and that is how they dissolve the stains that cause discoloration.
Both vital and non-vital teeth can be treated and bleached.
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There are several different methods of in-office vital teeth whitening. All of these methods include placing a bleaching agent on the surface of the teeth. All of the methods last from 30 to 90 minutes, are painless and are always supervised and controlled by a dentist.

The non-vital or internal method is used for teeth that have previously had an endodontic treatment or also known as root canal treatment. These teeth have internal stains from blood or other liquids that have colored them during the treatment or after it. With these types of stains, the external methods of bleaching are not successful. The procedure starts by properly cleaning and filling the root canals.

After your visit at the dentist’s office and after the treatment, the dentist might also provide you with a home whitening system for you to use. He will first take impressions of your teeth and provide you with mouthpiece trays that are made based on those impressions. You will also be given a whitening gel. The doctor will give you clear instructions on how to use the whitening system, for how long and how many times a day.

Positive effects

The latest bleaching agents include fluoride in their ingredients, which helps with hypersensitivity and increasing the enamel hardness. The fluoride combined with potassium nitrate are a great improvement in the quality of the bleaching agents because they offer a whitening process which is more comfortable for patients, relief from sensitivity and improved oral health. Ultradent is the first company that presented this technology, and their products do not need to be activated by light and are widely used around the world.

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Teeth Bleaching Procedures

What can cause a change in the natural color of your teeth?

Where can you get your teeth whitened?

Positive effects